NZ parents want school choice, report shows

A new report showing 90 percent of parents want to choose the schools their children attend highlights the 'lack of sense' in government policies that restrict choice.

The Maxim Institute report, the fourth released in its series of education research, shows that nearly all parents (96 percent) would like to select the school their child goes to; and most parents (80 percent) agreed that education should be funded to allow parents to send their children to the school of their choice.

The institute recommended zoning regulations be relaxed as an interim measure "on the path to the complete abolition of zones". Where schools were over-subscribed, places should be filled according to factors other than the location the family could afford to live in.

Joy Quigley, the executive director of Independent Schools of New Zealand, said the report highlighted the lack of sense in government education funding policies.

It made no sense that parents could choose preschools and tertiary education for their children and government money would go to the institution they chose but "inexplicably those same parents are considered by the Government to be hopeless when it comes to making an informed decision about school choice".

"By denying parents this option, the government is clearly saying that parents are not a reliable authority in this vital decision-making process, and that only the state has the magic formula that can determine what is best for each child.

"Why can't the government respond to parents by funding education in such a way that there is greater choice, particularly for less well-off families," Ms Quigley said.

"To say that they want all schools to be good schools is not the point, because all schools, no matter how good, are different. Similarly, all students are different and therefore there will not always be a good match with the local school and the local child. Parents know this."

The Maxim Report is at this web page.